If watch brands are proudly trumpeting their watchmaking expertise and manufacturing capabilities, suppliers don’t always get the credit they deserve. Today we are taking a look at Timeless, a movement manufacturer that just hired two well-known industry veterans, Pierre Favre and Dominique Renaud. A good reason to make us think that we’ll be hearing more […]
I guess at MONOCHROME we do not have to tell you about cultural differences, however there’s one that stands out for people who are passionate about horology and wrist watches in particular. Watch collectors uniting in a club-like manor is something that did not happen, or hardly, in main land Europe. Most European watch collectors prefer to fly under the radar and do not feel any urge to share their, often pretty expensive, collection with others. That is, until Instagram came along and made it easy to meet like-minded collectors, in complete anonymity. And that’s how I got in touch with @Watchesbelike. He’s a 34-year old finance professional and watch collector, who lives in Paris and can be found under this alias on Instagram. We exchanged quite a bit about watches in general, collecting and his love for his Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711a. Although he’s been asked to, he would never sell it. He explains why.
Schwarz Etienne, despite flying a little under the radar, has a lot to offer. Not only does the manufacturer stand out for its vertical integration, but it’s also one of the very few within the industry to independently manufacture all its own components, supplying these to third party brands including MING. Its sister brand, E20 […]
Wilhelm Schmid has been ten years with the brand that ‘never stands still’. After a career at BMW, among others in South Africa, he arrived in Glashütte to be the new CEO at A. Lange & Söhne, the pinnacle of German watchmaking. With a background in sales and a strong passion for mechanics, it seemed like a match made in heaven. Wilhelm Schmid’s past ten years at Lange were during a pretty turbulent period. It already started in the aftermath of the massive global recession that started in 2008, now the corona pandemic that has a huge influence on the watch industry, the opening of the new manufacture, and of course the sad passing of Walter Lange.
Ultra-thin is a truly fascinating area of watchmaking. Ultra-thin is the child of miniaturization, which has always been one of the watchmakers’ goals. Ultra-thin is where design and mechanics meet, where the ingenuity of the watchmaker isn’t guided by the need to pack more and more functions, but by the wish to make the watch […]
Trust Jacob & Co. to produce a six-figure gold watch depicting an oil pump. Fitted with two derricks, a system of pipes, an oil gauge and reservoir tank, this miniature recreation of an oil rig is so detailed that it is bound to win over the hearts of die-hard oil tycoons. Moreover, being a Jacob […]
The Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon marries two traditional complications in a radically contemporary setting. The impressive acoustic and visual show, with a three-hammer chime and tourbillon, takes place on the dial of a very ‘noir’ Octo Roma case. The hammers, gongs and tourbillon are exposed on the dial while the mechanics of the impressive new […]
A. Lange & Söhne isn’t known for being lazy when it comes to complications and the execution of its watches. It isn’t one of the most revered watchmakers from Germany without reason. We all know that ALS is capable of manufacturing some of the most complex, desirable watches, which include some superb chronographs. Among the […]
MB&F’s retro-futuristic HM9 sails into 2021 with a sapphire crystal case revealing every component of its anatomy. Like the HM3 FrogX tenth-anniversary editions in sapphire crystal presented at the end of 2020, four limited editions of the HM9 with sapphire crystal cases join the HM9 fleet. First launched in 2018, the HM9 Flow takes its […]
De Bethune launches the DB Kind of Two Tourbillon, a double-sided or pivoting watch with two distinct faces and two distinct moods. A beautiful fusion of past and present, one side of the watch reveals a contemporary design with a tourbillon; the other reveals a more traditional face. Let’s take a closer look at yet […]